Typewriting machine



Sept. 6, 1932. w. F. HELMOND 7 v TYPEWRITING MACHINE 5 Filed April 26, 1930 INVENTOFU W jZZEY.

Patented Sept. 6, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFI'CE WILLIAM I. finLMoNn; or wEs'r mm'rronn, CONNECTICUT, AssIeNon 'ro UNDER- woon ELLIorr IsIrEn. COMPANY, or NEW YORK, N. Y., .A-CORPORATION or DE A- WARE TYI'EWRITING macn'mn Application filed A ril as, 1930. Serial no. 447,469.

main platen-frame, so that the platen may swing up above the level of the straightenedout work-plies. Upon its return, this swinging frame usually strikes a snap latch, and is caught thereby and retained in normal the operation of'said latch, due to the liabilit of the latch-releasing pfn striking the late upon its top instead of upon'its nose. Ac-

cording to the present improvements, this difficulty is avoided by providing upon the swing-frame a finger which swings back against a ledge that is provided upon the latch, and presses the latch back out of thepath of the locking pin. Said finger trips off from the latch, permitting the latter to snap into engagement with said locking pin.

The aforesaid latch is fixed upon a transverse rock-shaft, and the-same shaft carries" a'companion latch at the other side of the I machine, so that both sides of the platen frame may be held down firmly in normal position. Said rock-shaft also carries a spring and a collar to anchor. the same, and these parts form a unit for convenience in manufacture and attachment to the machine.

In assembling theparts, the shaft is inserted endW-ise through bearings provided in a pair of brackets that are secured to the main platen-frame ends and have bearings for the usual platen-framepinions. Said latch-shaft is held in place by means of a finger which is loosely secured to the platen-frame end, and has a tooth that occupies the hole in the I platen-frame end through which said latchshaft was introduced. Said tooth is slotted position. Some difficulty has been found in.

in clamping position.

to permit assembly of the finger, and after the finger is fastened in place, said tooth locks the finger against rotation, thus making an inexpensive, reliable and effective mount of the rock-shaft in the machine.

- There is sometimes retained in the machine a record-sheet to receive condensed carbon copies of successive entries upon a great number of fan-fold forms. The recordsheet is stationary in the machine, while the 5 fan-fold web is advanced, the record-sheet being held by its side margins, which project beyond the sides of the fan-fold web. The Web is held upon one table by means of. clamps at the delivery side of the platen, and 00 .is also held upon another table 'byuneans of other clamps at the intake side of the platen. Thereby the web is prevented from becoming displaced at the platen-elevating and web-advancing operations. One of the objects of the invention is to provide an improved device for clamping said recordsheet.

These record-sheet clamps are carried by asingle rock-shaft. The rock-shaft also carries an arm by means of which it may be rocked. The spring connections to said arm hold the clamps normally off from the condensed record-sheet. By depressing a fingerpiece, a cam-lever is swung down upon said 15 member and thereby forces the rock-shaft to rock, and the clamps are brought down to clamp the record-sheet against the front and back tables. Said cam-lever locks the parts One of the objects of the invention is to improve the mounting and construction of the four clamp-members upon said rockshaft, and to provide practicable means to guard against faultyaction of the clamps, and especially to guard againstliability of y the sheet becoming held by one clamp only,

while another clamp or clamps fail to reach the sheet. I A All four clamp-arms are made of springy tipped with pads,

sheet-metal strips, the end of any strip being rolled around the rock-shaft and clipped thereto by means of screws, the extreme tip of the strip being doubled or folded to afio'rd more screw threads. The screw draws-the clip tightly upon the shaft and permits rotative adjustment of each finger, so as to make it practicable to have the four fingers grip the paper alike.

T iere is also opportunity for adjustment of any one or more fingers along the shaft, to accommodate differentwidths of worksheets or different positions of the worksheets on the platen.

The rock-shaft is in rear of the'platen. Two of the clipping fingers are made short to clip the sheet against the rear work-table, while the other fingers in the pair are made long to clip the record-sheet a ainst the,

All of the fingers are front work-shelf.

which may be soft rubber. Each of the rear fingers is made yielding,'so as to insure contact of both of them with the work-sheet, even though they should be inaccurately mounted upon the rock-shaft.

The pads upon the front fingers consist of sections of soft rubber tubing, which fit upon tongues that are offset laterally from the front fingers. The dimension of the tongue being very much greater than the internal diameter of the tubing, causes the tubing to assume an elliptical shape, so that it may .press the paper somewhat against the table before the clamping movement of the finger is completed. This insures a proper grip of the paper, even though said i front fingers are not exactly matched with record-sheet a cross-bar forming a support each other, or exactly timed with respect to the rear fingers.

There is provided" above the condensed for the web emerging from the machine, and one of the present improvements relates to the adjustable construction and mounting of side guides for'the web. The cross-bar is made with a downwardly-projecting flange, and each side guide is made with a finger that is bent around the edge of said flange, the side guide also having a" clip catching over the upper edge of the bar. The finger is inexpensively made, and may be readily adjusted along the bar, and holds the same With suflicient friction, so that it is not liable to become displaced. The bar is supported by I posts at its ends, but said flange overhangs view of an Underwood continuous billing applied thereto.

the posts, so as to permit the side guides to be slipped upon the bar past the posts.

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawing,

Figure- 1 is a fragmentary perspective typewriting machine having my invention neraaae platen is in its displaced position, for

straightening the work-web and stripping the carbons.

Figure 5 is an operational view of the structure shown in Figure 1, illustrating how the platen-locking lever is moved rearward by a member of the platen-displacing frame, preparatory to disposing the platen against the lower feed-rolls.

Figure 6 is a schematic plan view, broken away in part, of the platen-carriage, wherein is illustrated improved means for mounting the rock-shaft on which the locking levers are fastened.

Figure 7 is a detail View illustrating the action of an improved record-web gripping pad of the present invention.

The present invention'is illustrated asapplied to an Underwood typewriting machine, in which types 10 strike against a platen 11 on a platen-shaft 12 which is journaled in a right-hand end plate 13 and a left-hand end plate 14 of a platen-displacin sub-frame 15 which is hinged on a main p aten frame or carriage 16, 27. The platen -11 may be rotated by a line-spacing wheel 17 and fingerwheels 18. Each finger-wheel 18 is mounted on a stub-axle 20 j ournaled in the carriage 16 and operatively connected to the platen-shaft by a gear-wheel 21 on thestub-axle, a pinion 22 and a gear-wheel 23 on the adjacent end of the platen-shaft 12. Lower feed-rolls 25 engage the platen 11, and, for guiding a multiple-ply work-web 26 between the feed-rolls and the platen, there may be provided a rear paper-table 27 forming part of the main platen-frame.

Carbonheets 28 may be held interleaved between. the plies of the web 26 by a carboncarrier 29 which runs on a track (not-shown) in the rear of the carriage.

A-feature of the present invention resides in the provision of improved and inexpensive devices for holding a condensedreeord-web or sheet 30 stationary and taut on the platen 11 while the work-web 26 is advanced during the carbon-stripping operation. To this end, a paper-table 33 at the delivery side of the platen may be mounted between the end plates 13 and 14 in a well-known way, and a paper-table 34 is mounted at the introductory side of the platen on supporting members, hereinafter described, which members are supported by and displaceable with the plat en-displacing frame 15. To clamp the record web 30 against the paper-table 34, two clamping arms 35, each having a rubber shoe 36, are mounted on a rock-shaft 37 disposed above the table 34 and transversely thereto. The rock-shaft 37 has one end j ournaled in an extension plate 38 fastened on the end plate '13, and the other end journaled in an extension plate 39 fastened on the end plate 14.

It is desirable that the two arms. be separately adjustable on the rock-shaft 37 and be constructed so that each of them can be arranged to bear with suflicient pressure on the paper-table 34 independently of each other. To this end, the arms 35 are made of a thin flexible metal like spring steel, and the inner end portion may be formed, as shown in Figure 3, to be looped around the rock-shaft 37 To securely fasten each arm 35 on the rock-shaft 37, whereby to permit angular adjustment therearound and also adjustment therealong for use with difi'erent widths of record-webs, two screws 40 are threaded in the inner portion of each arm 35, adjacent the portion looped around the rock-shaft. The arms 35 are bound tightly on the rock-shaft by the action of the screws.

-The stock from which the arms 35 are made is preferably quite thin, and to. provide for more threads in the arm 35 .for engagement with the threads of the screws 40, a short portion 41 at the inner extremity of each arm 35 may be bent back on itself, thus, in effect,

doubling the thickness of the stock, and con-- sequently doubling the number of threads therein for engagement with each screw 40.

Clamping arms 43 for gripping the recordweb on the table 33 at the delivery side of.

the platen may have end portions looped around the shaft 37 and be mounted by screws 44 on the rock-shaft 37 in a similarway to that described above for mounting the arms 35. Each arm 43 is preferably positioned outwardly from the adjacent arm 35. The record-web 30 is gripped against the table 33 a distance from the rock-shaft 37 greater than the distance of the shoes 36 from the rock-shaft 37. This makes it desirable tohave the arms 43 stiffer than the arms 35, and

' for this reason an integral flange 45 is bent up on each arm 43 along its inside edge.

The flexibility of the arms 35 makes each ordinarily capable of gripping the recordweb 30 against the table 34, independently of the other arm 35. Should the arms be mounted differently on the shaft 37, the flexi-l bility df the arm first engaging; the table 34 3 will allowit to'yield enough that the other arm 35 will also be brought into working engagement with the table. It can readily be seen that if. each arm 35 is made of a stiff material, each would need to beset or adjusted on the rock-shaft 37 exactly alike. It is desirable to avoid such fine adjustments, since they are difiicult to make and troublesome to maintain.

Since the arms 43 are relatively st ifi', small 7 inaccuracies in the angular adjustment of them on thesliaft'37 arefcompensated for -by using a novel advantageous shoe 46 mounted on an inreaching extension 47 of each arm 43. Each shoe 46 may be inexpensively made of a short tube-like section of relatively thick soft rubber, which may be stretched to engage over the associated armextension 47. To safeguard the shoes from working oil the arm-extensions, the lattermay each have a wide shallow notch 47 cut in each side edge for receiving the associated shoe 46. 0'

The initial inner diameter of each shoe 46 and the width of the extension 47 between its notches .are such that the shoe 46 has an elliptical form substantially as shown in Figure 3 when the shoe is in place on its asso- It is a feature of the present invention to provide improved means in a continuous billing typewriting machine for latching recordweb-clam'ping arms, such as the arms 35 and 43, in ineffective positions. To this end, the

shaft-37 is extended through the plates 38 I and '39 and has fastened'to its left end a cammember 48. A collar 49 may be fastened to its right end adjacent the plate 38. A lever 50, which is disposed against the left face of the plate 39, is pivoted by a screw 51 in the plate 39, and has a long arm 52 pro-.

vided with a finger-piece 53 and a short arm 54. On the outer end of the short arm is mounted a roller 55. A tensile spring 56 having one end fastened around a pin 57 in the cam-member 48 and the other end around a pin '58 in a heel-portion 59 of the lever is effective to normally swing the cam-member 48, the shaft 37 and therecordweb-clamping arms counterclockwise, which will move the clamping arms 35 and 43 upwardly away from the paper-tables 33 and 34, respectively.

The action of the spring 56 holds a cam I edge 60 of the cam-member 48 constantly in engagement with thegroller 55.- When the clamps 35 and 43 are in ineffective positions, the roller engages the cam edge adjacent its inner end, and the arm 52 is disposed 'substantially upright, as shown-in Figure 3. To move the clamping arms 35 and 43 to effective positions, it is only necessary to push the arm 52 rearward when the roller 55 is moved outwardly along the cam edge until the roller is seated in a shallow notch 61 cut in the cam. edge adjacentthe outer end of the arm 54. w

When using an Underwood continuous bill- 139 cation of Jesse way to its carbon-strippmg position. Also it the platen down is desirable upon swinging that a usual into normal typing position reaching pin 63 fast to the plate 14 be engaged by a locking lever, generally designated as 64, so as to hold the platen positively and firmly down against the feed-rolls 25. To enable the lever 64 to press the pin 63 down, a curved locking slot 65 is provided in the lever near its fulcrum on a rock-shaft 66 extending between usual right and left side plates 104 and 105, respectively, of the carriage 16. The locking slot 65 may be constructed like a similar slot shown in the above-noted application of Smith.

To move the lever 64 rearwardly against the power of a spring 70 coiled around the rock-shaft 66 to a position where the pin 63 may enter the slot 65 it is a feature of the present invention to provide means for applying force against the lever at a point farther from its fulcrum than has'been done heretofore, thus making it easier for the operator to swing the platen 11 down to typing position. These means include a rearwardlyextending cam-finger 71 having a transverse portion 7 2 which is fastened to an inreaching extension 73 of the extension plate 39, so that the finger 71 lies in substantially the same plane as the plate 39. A rear end portion 74 of the finger 71 is rounded and engages a flange or ledge element 75 integrally joined to the lever 64 near the outer end thereof, when the platen 11 is swung rearwardly and downwardly toward the feed-rolls 25 from its carbon-stripping position.

As will be seen from an inspection of Figure 5, the end portion 74 slides over the flange 75 as it cams the latter and the lever 64 rearwardly. The arrangement of the cam-finger 71 relative to the flange 7 5 and the arrangement of the pin 63 relative to theslot 65 are such that immediately after the pin 63 is moved down in front of the outer endof the slot 65, the end 74 of the eam-finger'71 slips off the lower edge of the flange 75, and the spring 70 then becomes effective to swing the lever 64 forward until it is stopped in normal locking position by an integral heel-member 7 6 engaging against the paper-table 27.

A. locking arm '27 of usual construction is mounted on the rock-shaft 66 adjacent the right end. of the carriage 16, and may be areraaae locking the platen-displacing frame 15.

The work-web 26 may be laterally guided at the introductory side of the platen by guiding instrumentalities (not shown), which may be substantially like the instrumentalities provided for the same purpose shown in the device of the above-mentioned Smith application. For laterally guiding the work-Web 26 at the delivery side of the platen 11, the extension plate 38 has an extension 80, which includes an integral portion 81, whose upper section is bent to form an end portion 82. To the portion 73 of the extension plate 39 is joined an extension 83 having an upper bent end portion 84, which has a paired relation with the end portion 82.

An angle bar 85, completing a bridge above the work tables 3-3, 34 and the sheets thereon, may be fastened as by riveting between the portions 82 and 84 and has a flange element 86 extending downwardly at the front. Right-hand and left-hand side-edge guidemembers 87 and 88, respectively, for the work-web 26 may be mounted on the angle bar 85. Each of the guide-members 87 and 88 has a body-portion 9O lying against the top face of the angle bar 85, an integral guide-plate 91 at the inside edge of the body, a rear extension 92 bent down behind the angle bar 85, and a front extension 93 of the body bent down in front of the flange element 86 and up behind it a short distance, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 3.

The guide-members 87 and 88 are made from thin flexible sheet-metal, and are formed so as to slightly bind the angle bar 85, whereby they will stay where they are set, being ordinarily immovable by the work-web 26 as it passes between them.

A gage-bar 94 is mounted on the under side of the bridge 85 by means of a stud 95 riveted in the body 85, and a knurled thumbnut 96 which has a base-portion 97 partly sawed through, so asto leave a slot 98 transversely disposed to the stud 95 (see Figure 3) The slot serves to make the nut 96 selflocking. The lower end of the gage-bar 94 engages squarely against the rear face of the -flange element 86 of the angle bar 85, and

' in an advantageous way without drilling and tapping holes in the ends of the rock-shaft. A hole for receiving the left end of the rockshaft is provided in a usual left-hand side frame-member 102 of the carriage 16, and a hole is provided in a usual right-hand side frame-member 103 for receiving the other end of the rock-shaft. The left end of the rock-shaft 66 is disposed flush with the left face of the frame-member 102, and a usual sheet-metal end piece 104 is fastened against the left face of the frame-member and abuts against the left end of the rock-shaft 66 and prevents lengthwise leftward movement of the same.

An end piece 105 is fastened against the right face of the frame-member 103 and has an oversize hole provided in it for passage of the rock-shaft 66, and the right end of the latter terminates substantially flush with the outer face of the frame-member 103. To prevent rightward movement of the rock-shaft, a retaining washer or plate-member 106 having a slot 107 at one end is fastened by a screw 108 to the outer face of the end piece 105 adjacent the right end of the rock-shaft 66. The end of the retaining member 106 opposite the slot 107 extends partly over the rock-shaft 66 and may be bent slightly inward to engage against the end of the same,

thus preventing the washer from turning and also holding the rock-shaft in place against lateral movement relative to the carriage 16. It can readily be seen that in assembling or disassembling the rock-shaft, it

' is only necessary to unloosen the screw 108 and swing the retaining member 106 to one side. The shaft is confined against leftward displacement by the end 104 of the carriage.

The paper-table 34 is mounted on two supporting members 110, one of which is disosed under each side edge and integrally oined to a short arm 111 which is bent outwardly and terminates in an extension 112. The right-hand extension 112 is fastened to extension 80, and the left-hand extension 112 is fastened .to extension 73.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention I claim:

1. In a continuous billing carbon-stripping typewriting machine having a platen-displacing frame, a platen in said frame around which may be fed from the rear a multipleply work-web and an underlying recordweb extending out from both side edges of said work-web, the combination with a papertable on said frame at the introductory side i -of said platenand a paper-table at the delivery side of said platen, of instrumentalities mounted for displacement with said said table at the introductory side of said platen, and a second set of angularly and axially adjustable clamping arms mounted on said rock-shaft and rigidly fastened thereto and each carrying a yielding pad for gripping said record-web against said table at the delivery side of said platen, the flexibility of said first-named set of arms and the yielding pads of said second-named set of arms permitting all of said arms to effectively clamp said record-web irrespective of small inaccuracies of angular adjustment of said arms on said rock-shaft.

2. In a web-manifolding machine having a platen, the combination with an up-swinging sub-frame in which the platen is journaled, of a lug upon said sub-"frame, and a springpressed latch normally caught upon said lug to retain the sub-frame in printing position, said latch having an arm provided with a projection and said sub-frame having a finger bearing against said projection to cause said latch to move to full-release position at the concluding portion of the return stroke of the sub-frame to printing position, said finger constructed to become disconnected from said latch at the" end of said return stroke, said latch being normally releasable to free the sub-frame for the succeeding up-swing thereof.

3. In a web-manifolding machine having a platen, the combination with an lip-swinging sub-frame in which the platen is journaled, of a lug uponsaid sub-frame, and a spring-pressed latch normally caught upon said lug to retain the sub-frame in printing position, said latch having an arm provided with a projectio n and said sub-frame having a finger bearing against said projection to cause said latch to move to full-release position at the concluding portion of the return stroke of the sub frame to printing position, saidswinging sub-frame having a hingeconnection to a main platen-frame, and said latch being pivoted upon the main platenframe at a point remote from said hinge, to cause said finger to become cast off from said projection as soon as the lug upon the sub- "frame is in position to be caught by said latch.

4. In a web-manifolding typewriter having a platen, a swing-up sub-frame in which fi net/ems spring for saii rock-shaft, bearing-members upon the ends of said. platen-frame, said rock-shaft journaied in said bearing-members and confined against enoiwise movement 5 in one direction by means of one of saioi platen-frame ends, the other of said platenframe ends having an opening through which said rock-shaft may pass, a washer, and a screw holding saidi washer upon the platen- 10 frame enci adj acent said opening, saM washer having a tongue bent down into said. opening to prevent turning of the washer, said washer serving to confine sai 1 rock-shaft against dis- 5 placement in the opposite direction.

1 WELIAM 1B. HELMQND. 

